‘Horrific’: report reveals abuse of pregnant women and children at US Ice facilities

A new report has found hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers.

The alleged abuses uncovered include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and child separation.

The report, compiled by the office of Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat representing Georgia, noted it found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since 20 January 2025.

His office team’s investigation is active and ongoing, the office said, and has accused the Department of Homeland Security of obstructing congressional oversight of the federal agency, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Ossoff said the government was limiting his team’s access to visit more detention sites and interview detainees.

Under the second Trump administration, a Guardian analysis found average daily immigration arrests in June 2025 were up 268% compared with June 2024, with the majority of people arrested having no criminal convictions. And US immigration detention facilities are estimated to be over capacity by more than 13,500 people.

The problem is not new, as before Trump took office again, US immigration detention centers faced allegations of inhumane conditions. But controversy has ramped up amid the current administration’s widespread crackdown on immigration and undocumented communities within the US, including people who have lived and worked in the US for years or came in more recently under various legal programs that Trump has moved to shut down.

Among the reports cited in the new file from Ossoff’s office, there are allegations of huge human rights abuses include 41 cases of physical and/or sexual abuse of detainees while in the custody of the DHS, including reports of detainees facing retaliation for reporting abuses.

Examples include at least four 911 emergency calls referencing sexual abuse at the South Texas Ice processing center since January.

The report also cites 14 credible reports of pregnant women being mistreated in DHS custody, including a case of a pregnant woman being told to drink water in response to a request for medical attention, and another case where a partner of a woman in DHS custody reported the woman was pregnant and bled for days before DHS staff took her to a hospital, where she was left in a room alone to miscarry without water or medical assistance.

The report cites 18 cases of children as young as two years old, including US citizens, facing mistreatment in DHS custody, including denying a 10-year-old US citizen recovering from brain surgery any follow-up medical attention and the detention of a four-year-old who was receiving treatment for metastatic cancer and was reportedly deported without the ability to consult a doctor.

The report from Ossoff’s office was first reported by NBC News. The DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to NBC News in response to the report: “any claim that there are subprime conditions at Ice detention centers are false.” She claimed all detainees in Ice custody received “proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members”.

Meredyth Yoon, an immigration attorney and litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, told NBC News she met with the woman who miscarried, a 23-year-old Mexican national.

“The detainee who miscarried described to Yoon witnessing and experiencing ‘horrific’ and ‘terrible conditions’, the attorney said, including allegations of overcrowding, people forced to sleep on the floor, inadequate access to nutrition and medical care, as well as abusive treatment by the guards, lack of information about their case and limited ability to contact their loved ones and legal support,” NBC News reported. DHS denied the allegations.

“Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners … it’s more important than ever to shine a light on what’s happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children,” Ossoff said in a statement his office issued about the investigation.